Murina
Kino Lorber | Release Date: July 8, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
95
Film ThreatSumner ForbesJul 21, 2022
Kusijanovic’s feature-length debut is nothing short of revelatory. Murina is the perfect summer film. Beautiful scenery, nuanced performances, and canny filmmaking provide one of the most memorable coming-of-age stories of the 2020s so far. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubJordan HoffmanJul 7, 2022
The look (and sound) of Murina are mesmerizing. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 11, 2022
Kusijanović conveys all this through the way her actors move against and look at one another. That’s filmmaking of the highest order — intimate and gripping. Read full review
90
VarietyJessica KiangApr 12, 2022
Murina is rife with symbolism, but it’s a mark of Kusijanović’s command — an astonishing quality for a first-time feature director — that the recurring motifs and metaphors are worn so lightly and feel so organic to the film’s microcosmic universe. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleTrace SauveurJul 14, 2022
Looking at the world around us, this is the perfect summer drama for a society that continually proves itself more and more obsessed with controlling women. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGlenn KennyJul 8, 2022
Murina is a slow burn of a movie, one that doesn’t end in a detonation but with an enigma. Nevertheless, it’s one of the more coherent and satisfying narrative releases of the year. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJul 15, 2022
Up until the final scenes, when every tension flares unambiguously into the open, Kusijanović assuredly avoids the obvious, instead telling her story with deft, implicative strokes: meaningful glances, offhand dialogue and insinuating body language. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonApr 12, 2022
Murina is a superb study in sustained subliminal menace, with Gracija Filipovic especially skilled playing a young woman learning how to utilise her sensuality to secure her freedom Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeApr 12, 2022
The atmosphere, of sun and celebration, rings as hollow as the Europop that Ante blasts to drown out arguments; sonar-stabs of cello on the score sound a warning Read full review
80
Little White LiesLaura VenningApr 12, 2022
Anchored by four very strong performances, Murina is a taut psychodrama that makes subtle but impactful statements about misogyny and personal choice. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid ParkinsonApr 6, 2022
Showing how paradise can be hell, this audiovisual treat is spiritedly played by its leads and bristles with a brooding menace that can't quite disguise the story's essentially melodramatic nature. Read full review
79
TheWrapSteve PondJul 14, 2022
Kusijanovic isn’t interested in tipping her hand as this coming-of-age story turns into one more cinematic journey by a young woman through an inhospitable world. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 10, 2022
What the film has is visual authority and an eye for composition. Read full review
75
The PlaylistMarshall ShafferJul 28, 2022
Kusijanović storms out of the gate with a confident coming-of-age tale full of relationships as rocky as the craggy Croatian coast in which the story unfolds. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 5, 2022
Kusijanovic has given us a “Lolita” without exploitation, a “Knife in Water” with spear guns, and a disturbing riff on toxic masculinity and rash teenaged impulses simmered in a seaside chowder of sex and gamesmanship, making for a dazzling first feature. Read full review
75
The Film StageJared MobarakSep 13, 2021
Murina proves a coming-of-age tale dealing with more than the usual tropes of puppy love, sexual awakening, and identity-building. Read full review
69
Paste MagazineNatalia KeoganJul 7, 2022
While the script co-written by Kusijanovic and Frank Graziano is hardly revelatory, Murina is nonetheless a strong directorial effort from a first-time feature helmer. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineWilliam RepassJul 5, 2022
With so much screen time devoted to portraying its main character’s complexities, the other characters remain half-developed, and to the detriment of the film’s themes. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 7, 2022
For the most part, the director cuts loose her characters and lets them and the story’s vague ideas — about gender, sexuality, money and power — swirl and drift, leaving you to decide how and whether they all fit together, or don’t. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 12, 2022
All this is acted with smouldering intensity and authenticity, particularly by Filipovic, although it’s possible to wonder if there is anything unexpected to come in the third act, or if we can roughly guess where it’s all heading. Read full review
50
IndieWireRyan LattanzioSep 13, 2021
A murky, vaguely sinister, but ultimately dreary coming-of-age film about a young woman’s blossoming sexuality under the spell of her mother’s old flame. Read full review
More From This Movie

76 Critic Reviews

4.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL